The Bisons could not overcome a poor first half against the Jacksonville Dolphins Saturday afternoon and lost 78-68 at Swisher Gymnasium.

Lipscomb outscored the Dolphins in the second half but could not overcome a 14-point lead that Jacksonville had built by halftime.

Bisons senior Josh Slater filled up the stat sheet and paced the Bisons for the second consecutive game. Slater finished with 20 points and just four steals shy of a triple-double against the Dolphins. He had 10 rebounds, six steals, and four assists to accompany his scoring.

Coming off a season-low of just two points Thursday night against North Florida, Lipscomb senior Adnan Hodzic bounced back with 19 points against Jacksonville.

The Dolphins, who came into Saturday’s game having one of the lowest team shooting percentages in the Atlantic Sun, were on target in the first half, connecting on 7-of-12 three pointers. That marked the most three pointers made by the Dolphins in a single half this season.

The Bisons did not connect on a single three-pointer in the first half and finished the game shooting just 2-of-9 from behind the arc. Jacksonville finished 8-of-17 from behind the three-point line.

Jacksonville also dominated the rebounding category in the first half and held a 17-9 advantage on the boards after the first 20 minutes.

At the 2:38 mark of the first half, Jacksonville took their largest lead of the game 37-20.

However, the Bisons would battle back and stage a valiant comeback effort in the second half. From the 17:29 mark to the 12:10 mark, Lipscomb went on a 14-2 run and cut the Dolphins lead to five. The Bisons would climb within three points at the 6:39 mark, but Lipscomb was never able to tie or took the lead in the second half.

Missed free-throws were another area that plagued the Bisons. Lipscomb went just 22-of-34 from the free-throw line (64.7 percent) and missed nine free-throws in the second half alone. The Dolphins managed to shoot nearly 87 percent from the free-throw line by connecting on 26-of-30.

The Bisons scored 24 points off of 21 Jacksonville turnovers while managing to only turn the ball over nine times themselves.

As a team, the Bisons went 22-for-51 from the field (43.1 percent). The Dolphins finished the game shooting 22-of-44 (50 percent).

With the loss, the Bisons have now lost two consecutive games and are 14-10 overall, 9-6 in the A-Sun. Jacksonville improved to 15-7 overall and 9-4 in the A-Sun.

Lipscomb’s next action comes Thursday night as the team heads to Campbell to take on the Fighting Camels. Jonathan and Benjamin Seamon will be on the call for the Lipscomb Sports Network.